Author: Richard

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New Years resolutions and projects

I did not make any real new year resolutions but there are a few things I am intending to do.

I want to get more studio photography done and I want to try and make sure that I get out to Hartsholme Park and Whisby Nature reserve a bit more often for some wildlife photograph.

This year will be spent trying to figure out what are the main types of photography I want to do and which focal length lens I prefer to do those types of photographs.  Then next year i’ll be undertaking a bit of a photographic prune of equipment and setting my self up with just what I really want.

When and and about with the Leica I have proven to myself how few focal lengths you actually need.

On a more personal note I want to continue with my diet and weight loss, I am just about there now despite Christmas but want to ensure  I do not slip back into old ways.

Lastly I want to get my music a lot better this year.  I found last year with everything that happened it was far too easy to let a couple of months slip past and I had not picked up a banjo or sat and played at our piano.  So January will be a month where I start gently but ensure I get down at least a couple of practice sessions each week.

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Christmas is just a couple of months away

Christmas is now just a couple of months a way and we are starting to think about presents for ourselves and for the house.

We finally had to retire our large CRT wide screen Sony Wega.  We bought one of the latest 4K HDR screens, but the sound sucks compare to the old TV, so we are looking at a decent surround sound system.

The other thing on our list as we both love quality coffee is a high end coffee grinder.  By high end I am talking sub £1000 price range while real coffee experts think that a grinder at £1000 is budget!

Lastly I will be approaching a significant birthday in a few years and there is a chance of a high end English fountain pen coming my way.  I have been dropping hints and it looks like its working.

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Coffee Shop

I love good coffee.  The major brand shops offer consistent coffee but for great coffee its often better to seek out the independents.   Those that buy in coffee from independent coffee roasters with relationships with small coffee growers.  Coffee at its peak, roasted to perfection.  Many towns now have small independent coffee shops and the better ones do source there coffee from the better suppliers.  We in Lincoln are lucky enough to have several independent coffee shops and one in particular is excellent.

I try to at least twice a week get out into Lincoln with my Leica and shoot a little street photography but to also occasionally take a few snaps in the coffee shop

 

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Coffee House on the Bridge

Another walk around Lincoln and a quick snapshot of High Bridge.  In medieval England it was common for building to be on bridges, and Lincoln High Bridge is one of the few remaining and was constructed around 1160 AD.

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Give Blood

A bit of a treat for us today.  Lunch time I headed out to my favourite coffee shop to relax, read and of course drink lovely Hasbean coffee.

I left work early today to give Timmy an extra early teatime walk as we were headed up to the hospital as it was time to give blood, my sixty second donation.

When we got home we ordered a Chinese from the village next door which was promptly delivered by them in there nice new electric Nissan Leaf, nice car and with a 107 mile real world range perfect for local commuting and delivery duties.

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1940’s Weekend

Lincoln 1940's Weekend-2Once we hit August it seems almost every weekend there is something going on here in Lincoln.  This weekend just gone was a 1940’s weekend, so lots of people dressed up, vintage vehicles and vintage stalls selling anything from 1940 – 1970.

I am sure that at some point someone is even going to start selling stuff from the 1980’s as ‘vintage’.

We parked up on the outskirts of the city and then had a very enjoyable walk with Timmy the Greyhound along the tow path of the canal.

Lincoln 1940's Weekend

Once in the city we had a look round the stalls before finally heading to the best coffee shop in Lincoln, Coffee Aroma.

Lincoln 1940's Weekend-3 Lincoln 1940's Weekend-4

 

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Scanning

With two rolls of Kodak Tri-X all developed and now dry, it was time to get down to some scanning.

As I have blogged about this before, this is a bit of a re-cap; getting everything clean is the first and major step, after that it is relatively simple.

My scanner is an Epson V850 Pro and instead of using the bundled Epson Software, I use SilverFast.

Step One clean and mount the film and scanner plate

Select Pre-Scan, at this point it does a basic scan
SilverFast and Frames

  • Select Frames, Find Frames and select the appropriate film holder, in this case Filmstrip 35mm

SilverFast 35mm Film Settings

  • I then select my resolution 6400 ppi for film and then select the film Vendor, film type and ISO.  Most common makes are there from Ilford, Fuji and Kodak.
  • Then its a tweak to the Midtones to make the files a little flatter and easier to working on post production, I use +5.
  • Select Copy settings to all frames

Now for the time consuming part.

  • Zoom into the first frame and adjust the frame to capture all the image
  • Tweak the histogram if necessary
  • Go to next frame and repeat

Once all frames are done I then select batch scan and have it uniquely number each file and place them in a watch folder.
Lightroom auto import
Its then over to Lightroom where I configure Auto Import. I have found the the default developer settings I use for my Nikon DSLR are a good starting point and I have Lightroom add the current date to the scans filename.
I now go off and have a cup of coffee and leave the computer to do its stuff, the scanner putting the images into the watch folder and then Lightroom automatically importing them, adding some developer settings and meta data and adding them to my main Catalogue image store.

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Learn to Play Day 2016

Learn to Play Day

I am not a brilliant musician, whilst I used to be in the choir as a child, I am now limited to poor banjo and piano playing.

Not enough people play an instrument in the UK, which is a shame.  To help encourage people this weekend is learntoplayday.  As with many of these things its just not advertised enough.

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Coffee accessories – Tamper

Tamper

Over the last few years, I have really gotten into high-quality coffee. During my free time, I have even started to experiment with the coffee I drink to get the best taste and have even got a milk frother from this link after reading through the various frothers reviews available on it. For home and office use, I generally drink brewed coffee.  At home I make it in a Chemex.

Chemex

While when at the office I use an Aeropress.

Aeropress

I have a cheap basic expresso machine at home but tend not to use it much, getting much better results with my brewing methods.

But I enjoy a good espresso, and espresso based milk drinks, and I would like to make that at home, so this past few weeks I have been practicing my technique using my basic espresso machine.

The internet is a wonderful tool for learning, I have fixed my plumbing from watching YouTube videos, so I have been researching and learning how to make reasonable espresso using basic equipment.

Tamper-2

I have mastered the milk and can now make wonderfully sweet creamy steamed milk with lots of microfoam.  So now I have been experimenting with the espresso itself.

While changing the grind and dose has improved things, I was getting too much expansion blocking the flow of water so it was time to buy a real tamper.

Tamper-3

Tonight it arrived so I have been experimenting with different pressures, grind and dosing, so far its looking good and it will be interesting to see how far I go with this.

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Gardening and getting things shipshape

OnionsThe weekend was our own so what did we do?  Gardening, and the chickens helped as well; when they were not showing too much interest in our onion and garlic sets.

The main job of the weekend was clearing the patio of all the mess we had dumped there while digging out the pyracanthas that was blocking where the new fence needs to go.

Once that was cleared away we then filled it again, as we set to and dug out the last pyracanthas that currently buries the fence near the out buildings.

Apart from a temporary move of the composter, there is now nothing getting in the way to having the new fences installed.

Sunday I finally got out and shot some wildlife which I’ll post about later.